14-Clear-Alphabet-Dictionary

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Talk a Lot Learn the ClearAlphabet Spelling and Sounds – Vowel Clusters A vowel cluster is a group of two or more vowel letters together in a word that represent a single vowel sound. For example, in the word “road”, “oa” is a vowel cluster that represents the sound eu , whilst in the word “shoe”, “oe” is a vowel cluster that represents the sound oo . In the same way, “ar” in the word “car”, is a vowel cluster that uses a silent “r” to help make the vowel sound ar . The reason we have vowel clusters is simple: there are 23 different single vowel sounds (vowel phonemes) in spoken English, but only 5 single vowel letters in written English. We need vowel clusters to represent in spelling all of the different vowel sounds. For example, the letter “a” on its own can make the sound a when sandwiched between two consonant sounds, for example in the word “cat” – Kat – but there is no single letter which can make the very common vowel sound =oo , as in “true” Troo . We have to use a vowel cluster – in this case “ue” – to represent this sound on paper. Vowel clusters can occur anywhere in a word – at the beginning (initial), as in “out”; in the middle (medial), as in “please”; and at the end (final), as in “true”. Focusing on vowel clusters and consonant clusters (see p.217) is useful if you want to look at some of the differences between spelling and sounds in English words. (See also Rhyming Words, from p.30.) Vowel clusters can be divided into eight categories: 1. Vowel Digraphs 2. Vowel Trigraphs and Quadgraphs 3. Vowel Clusters that End with “-r” 4. Other Vowel Clusters with “r” 5. Vowel Clusters with “w” 6. Vowel Clusters with “y” 7. Vowel Clusters with “gh” 8. Vowel Clusters with Other Consonant Letters What follows is a comprehensive list of vowel clusters, with the sounds that they represent, grouped by letter in alphabetical order. (Note: you may wish to add your own examples in the space provided.) 1. Vowel Digraphs Vowel digraphs are two vowel letters together in the spelling of a word that represent a single sound (one vowel phoneme). For example, in the word “meat”, “ea” is a vowel digraph that represents the sound ee , whilst in the word “meet”, “ee” is a vowel digraph that also stands for the same vowel sound: ee . This kind of thing can lead to a lot of confusion between spelling and sounds in English! digraph: sounds like: for example: my example(s): ai ei= = paid, wait, fail, paint, gain ______________________ ai e= = said, again ______________________ au or= = fraud, pause, autumn, August ______________________ For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www.englishbanana.com now! Talk a Lot Elementary English Banana.com 18.48 203